Enhanced Wellbore Stabilization and Reservoir Productivity with Aphron Drilling Fluid Technology

to determine the state of flocculation of clay-bearing fluids and to screen potential shale inhibitors. In this work, the CST method was evaluated as a screening tool for predicting relative invasion rates of drilling fluids in permeable cores. However, the drilling fluids examined--DRILPLEX, FLOPRO, and APHRON ICS--are all designed to generate low fluid loss and give CST values that are so high that fluid invasion comes to be dominated by experimental artifacts, such as fluid evaporation. As described in this work, the CST procedure was modified so as to minimize such artifacts and permit differentiation of the fluids under investigation.